Method and apparatus for making sheets



g- 9, 1932- R. J. WEAN 1,871,102

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SHEETS Filed Nov. 14, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l g- 9, 1932- I J. WEAN 1,871,102

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SHEETS Filed Nov. 14, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Patented Aug. 9, 1932 A UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE" RAYMOND J. WEAN, OF WARREN, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE WEAR. ENGINEERING COM- IPANY, INC., OF WARREN, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR-MAKING SHEETS Application filed November 14, 1931. Serial m 575,011.

My invention relates to a method and apparatus for making sheets and, in particular, to the manufacture of so-called black or steel sheets.

6 In the manufacture of sheets as now generally carried, on, the-apparatus employed comprises an in and out furnace, a stand ofrolls and a doubler between the furnace and rolls. The usual method is to place 19 sheet bars of a length substantiallyequal to the width of the finished'sheet in the furnace where they are-heated to rolling temperature. k The bars are removed from the furnace in pairs and are successively passed through the rolls repeatedly to reduce their thickness. When the temperature of the material has fallen below the rolling value, the partially elongated sheets or breakdowns are matched or doubled and returned to the furnace for reheating. It. is customary, however, to give each piece of material several passes through the rolls before reheating. The material is handled manually at all 1 times. When reheated, the material is again rolled by giving it several passes through the mill. If heavy material is being made, it isgenerally possible to finish the rolling operation on the second heating. Thinner material may require a second doubling or matching and third heating and rolling.

While the present system, as described above, is characterized by many objectionable features which contribute to a high cost of production, it was thought satisfactory wide strip, and installations which have been made already in accordance with the invention have-proved that this object has been accomplished. The invention has been hailed 5 with cold bars which are carried through the until the development of methods and ap' enable the old sheet mills to compete with as a life saver to the sheet mills since it enables them to continue operation in spite of the competition of wide strip.

Another object of the invention is to make it possible for wide sheet bars to be handled in existing sheet mills.

In accordance with my invention, I employ a continuous furnace for heating the sheet bars or pairs prior to the initial rolling. A furnace of this type is charged at one end furnace on a conveyor and discharged at the other end in condition for rolling. A com veyor extends from the discharge end of the furnace to a stand of roughing rolls. My invention contemplates that the initial reduction in the material be eflected by roughing rolls. A doubler is located on the exit sides of the rolls which are in alinement with the furnace, and offset relative thereto. 'A separate continuous furnace is provided for heating packs of doubled breakdowns from the roughing rolls. The pack heating furnace is similar to the bar heating furnace, except that its conveyor is designed to handle packs instead of pairs. A stand of finishing rolls is in alinement with the pack furnace and is provided with mechanical handling equipment, such as a feeder and catcher, for advancing material to the rolls and supporting 'it as it emerges therefrom for return over the top of the upper roll to the entrance side of the stand. A conveyor extends from the discharge end of the furnace to the feeding table. 'A doubler is located beyond the catching table and offset laterally from the line of the furnace and rolls. A return conveyor extends from the doubler to the entrance end of the pack furnace for facilitating the handling of packs which require a third heating and rolling operation.

The method which I contemplate practicing with the apparatus above-mentioned will be described in greater detail after the apparatus has been more fully disclosed. i

For. a complete understanding of the in- 95 vention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of a portion of the apparatus constituting the ma invention;

.Figure 2 is a sectional view substantially along the plane of line II-H of Figure 1;

Fi re 3 is a view similar to Figure 1, showthis remainder of the apparatus; and

igure 4 is a sectional view, taken substantially along the line Iv -JV of Figure 3.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the apparatus constituting an embodiment of the invention includes a continuous palr heating furnace 10, a stand of roughing rolls 11, a con- 5 veyor 12 connectin the discharge end of the furnace 10 with t e roughing rolls, and a roughing doubler 13. The furnace 10 of the contmuous t pe and is provided with a burner 14, a be e wall 15 and a continuous traveling conve or indicated diagrammatically at 16. The conveyor is preferably constituted by a plurality .of chains traversing sprockets 17 driven by a motor 18. Other details of the furnace are similar-to those of that disclosed in the Drefiein Patent No.

The conveyor 12preferably consists of a plurality of gravity rolls. The roughing roll stand 11 and the doubler 13 are of known construction and do not require detailed description. It is to be noted, however, that the doubler 13 is located on the exit side of the rolls 11 and laterally offset from the common center line of the rolls 11 and furnace 10. This makes it possible to match or double break-downs on the exit side of the rolls without interfering with the flow of material through the rolls. 1

A second furnace19 serves to heat the packs formed in the doubler 13. The furnace 19 is similar to the furnace 10, being of the continuous'type, but its conveyor, constituted by the chains 20, is specially adapted to carry packs by means already wellknown. At the discharge end-of the furnace 19, a gravity roll conveyor 21 serves to transfer packs to a mechanical rollers table or feeder 22. This device serves to advance packs through a stand of rolls 23, constituting a finishing mill, and a catcher table 24, on receiving material from the rolls may be made to return it over the upper roll to the table 22 for repeated rolling. The construction of the rollers table and the catcher table are well known, one example of this construction being shown in the McArthur Patent No. 1,750,534.

A doubler 25 is located on the exit side of the rolls 23 for doubling the packs a second time in case thin materialis to be rolled.

' From the doubler 25, a return conveyor 26 leads to the entrance end of the furnace 19,-

so that the redoubled packs may easily be passed through the furnace for reheating lplflior to their second rolling operation in the ishing mill The method which I prefer to carry out by the apparatus set forth above may be described as follows:

Sheet bars of any width, either standard the conveyor speed are adjusted so that the time the material is discharged it has been heated to the proper rollin When discharged from the urnace 10, the material'rolls down the conveyor 12 and is manually guided between the rolls of the i stand 11.

The rou only a pre iminary reduction in the thickness of the material. While this reduction requires several passes, bi confining the total reduction effected in t e roughing rolls to relatively narrow limits, the necessity for a wide variation in the roll set is avoided.

After the material has beenreduced tothe desired extent in the roughing rolls, it is transferred'to the doubler. Instead of'being doubled at this stage, however, the material may be matched, but, in either case, the doubling or matching takes place on the exit side of the rolls, or elsewhere apart from the mill, so that there is no interference with the continued operation of the rolls in working the next pair. The production of initiall reduced material is thereby, expedited. prefer to handle the material through the rolls and return it back over the upper roll manually and to complete the reduction in a separate stand of rolls where mechanical handling equipment is available. Such equipment cannot successfully handle sheet bars but, in order to take advantage of the high efliciency thereof, I effect the final reduction in a different stand of rolls provided with this equipment. I thus gain the advantage of the mechanical handling equipment in the final rolling operation without causing any interference with the manual handling of the material during the initial reduction.

When the initially reduced material has been matched or doubled, it is transferred to the entrance end of the pack heating furnace,

ploye The pair conveyor has heavy, sub

stanti'al supports spaced closely adjacent each other. The pack conveyor has lighter supports spaced wider apart.

The packs dischar ed from the pack heatmg furnace 19 roll own to the conveyor 21 onto the feeder or roller table 22. This table,

hing rolls 11 are adjusted to effect temperature.

under the control of an operator or roller, feeds the material between the rolls of the finishing stand 23. On the exit side of the rolls, the catcher table 24 receives the material, returns it over the top of the upper roll, and it is then again passed between the rolls. This 0 eration' is repeated until the sheets comprising the pack have been reduced to the desired extent or until the pack has become too cool for further rollin The pack is then transferred to the doub er 25 where it is redoubled, orsimilar packs may be rematched, when a further reduction in the thickness of the sheets is to be made. Inthis case, the redoubled, re-matched pack is con-' in thickness, a wide range of adjustment of the rolls is again avoided and at the same time the quality of the product is improved,

because the finishing rolls are not subject to the rapid deterioration characterizing the operation of the roughing rolls as a result of the heavy reductions which they are called upon to make. After the final rolling, the packs are piled for shearing into individual sheets. The redoubling or re-matching operation takes placeon the opposite side of the finishing mill and again prevents the interruption of the rolling of subsequent packs in the mill.

I also contemplate the use of a continuous automatic polisher for the rolls of both the roughing mill 11 and the finishing mill 23. This device, which is well known, eliminates the necessity for shutting down the mill for refinishing the rolls and increases the-efiiciency of the plant.

It will be apparent that the method and apparatus disclosed herein make possible the manufacture of sheets by existing plants with an extremely high degree of efficiency and at a comparatively low cost. The invention transfers the heavy laborious work which has been performed manually heretofore, to ma:

. chines, but relies on supervision of operators at all stages. The necessary manual laboris thus used much more efiiciently than has been the case in the old methods. The economics and uniformity of product which result'from the use of the continuous heating furnace can now be obtained, by the use of the invention, in all stages of the manufacture. The continuous furnaces, furthermore, make it possible for the manufacturer to choose from several varieties of raw material,

by the desired characteristics of thenamely, wide sheet bar, conventional .bar, or plate strip; v

The advantages flowing from the use of separate roughing and finishing rolls have already been mentioned, as well as those resultin from the location of the doubler on the exit side of the rolls in both cases. These advantages include the factthat mechanical handling equipment for cooperation with the rolls is used'where it can be employed with satisfactory results without interfering with manual handling during the roughing reduc-- tionl where mechanical equipment is not practica 1 As previously stated, the invention, in numerous installations already in operation, has proved that it enables old style sheet mills to compete with wide strip mills after the improvements herein described have been incorporated in the present sheet mills. The

invention thus protects the investment which-has been made in the large number of sheet mills now inexistence in the amount of nearly $200,000,000L00, which would ot-h-' erwise have to be written ofi-because of the scrapping of the; old type of sheet mills which would necessarily follow' from the competition of the wide strip mills. In one instance, a manufacturer, after installing a wide strip mill at an expense of $15,000,- 000.00 put in the applicants system to rehabilitate his old sheet mills. The invention permits the old sheet mills tocompete with wide strip mills, because it increases the pro-' duction and lowers the manufacturing cost. While lowered labor cost is a part of this reduction intotal cost, the greater portion of it is due to the greater efficiency with which the new system operates. All the equipment is used to much better advantage with a resultant' increase in output. The rolls. are effective a greater portion of the time and the-mechanical equipment-with supervising operators speeds up the flow of production. Another advantage of the invention is that. the old mills were not adapted to the handling of wide sheet bar which can readily be manipulated in the system of my invention. 7

Although I have illustrated and described herein a specific embodiment of theapparatus and a specific example of the method constituting my invention, together with possible alterations in the method, it will be understood, of course, that the invention is'not 1 limited by the disclosure since it maybe emfecting a preliminary reductiononly in the matenal, a conve or between the furnace and rolls, and a den ler on the exit :side of the rolls, ofiset relative thereto, of a continuous pack heating furnace, a. stand of finishingfor repeated passes therethrough,'matching I the material after the final rolling in the roughing rolls, passing the matched material throu h a continuous pack-heating furnace and. finishin rolls, doubling the matched material on t e exit side of the finishing rolls, repassing the' material through the packheating furnace, and efiecting a final reduction' thereof in said finishing rolls 3. A method, of making sheets including the steps of. feeding sheet bars throu h a heatin furnace, rolling the heated ars through roughing rollsto efiect only an initial reduction of the material and manually returning the rolled material over the rolls for repeated passes therethrou h, matching or doubling the rolled materia into packs, passing the matched or doubled packs through a heating furnace, mechanically handling the heated packs to pass them repeatedly through and over rolls for effecting further reduction, re-matching or re-doubling the packs, and repassing them through I the ack heating furnace and said lastmentioned rollsfor final reduction.

4. In a sheet mill, the combination with a continuous furnace having a conveyor adapted to carry bars or pairs, a stand of roughing rolls in alinement therewith, a doubler on the exit side of'the rolls and offset relative thereto, a continuous furnace for heating packs from said rou 'hing rolls and doubler having a conveyor adapted to carry packs only, a stand of finishing rolls in alinement with the pack-heating furnace, and a doubler on the exit side of the finishing rolls.

5. In a sheet mill, the combination with a continuous/bar heating furnace, a stand of roughing rolls in alinement therewith for effecting a preliminary reduction only in the material, and a conveyor between the furnace v and rolls, of a continuous pack heating furnace, a stand of finishing rolls in alinement therewith for effecting final reduction of the material into sheet form, mechanical handling equipment for feeding and catching material at the finishing rolls, a doubler on the exit: side of the rolls and offset laterallng thereof, and a return conveyor from the ro .to the entrance of the pack heating furnace. 6. In a sheet mill thecombinatmn with a continuous bar heating furnace, of roughing rolls-forreceiving bars from said furnace and effecting a, preliminar reduction thereof, means forconveying t e bars from the furnace to the rolls, a doubler for rough rolled material, a continuous pack heatin furnace, finishing rolls for receivin materia from sald pack heating furnace an effecting final reduction thereof into sheet form, me-

1 chanical handling equipment for feeding and catchin material at the finishing rolls,

and means or conveying material from the finishing rolls to the entrance of the pack heating furnace. H 7. In a sheet mill, the combination with a continuous bar heating furnace, of roughing rollsfor receiving bars from said furnace and effecting a preliminary reduction thereof, means for conveying the bars from the furnace to the rolls, a continuous pack heating furnace, finishin rolls for receivin material from said pack eating furnace an effecting final reduction thereof into sheet form, mechanical handling equipment for feeding and catching material at the finishing rolls, and means'for conveying material from the finishing rolls. to the entrance of,

the pack heating rnace.

8. In a sheet mill, the combination with a continuous bar heating furnace, of roughin rolls for receiving bars from the furnace and efiecting a preliminary reduction thereof, means for conveying the bars from the furnace to the rolls, a continuous pack heating "furnace, finishlng rolls for receiving material 'from said pack heating furnace and eflz'ecting final reduction of the'same into sheet form and mechanical handling equipment for' eedin .and catching'material at the finishing rol s. 9; In the method of producing sheets by rolling, the steps comprising passing the material to be rolled into and through a furnace in one direction only, discharging the materialfrom said furnace in said one direction only, and subjecting the material to rou h rolling repeatedly in a given stand of ro s, passing the rough rolledmaterial into and through asecond furnace in one direction only, discharging material from said second furnace in said one direction only, subjecting the material repeatedly in a given stand of rolls to a finish rolling operation, and mechanically handling the material during said last mentioned rolling operation.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 111 hand.

y RAYMOND J. WEAN. 

